The Federal Trade Commission issued a report to Congress that found adults aged 60 and over lost $1.6 billion to fraud in 2022, but because the vast majority of cases go unreported, the dollar amount could be as high as $48 billion.
The report highlights key trends based on fraud reports submitted by older adults, and the FTC’s multi-pronged efforts to combat the problem through law enforcement actions, rulemaking, and outreach and education programs.
As in prior years, the analysis of fraud reports received by the FTC in 2022 showed that adults aged 60+ were substantially less likely to report losing money to fraud than adults aged 18-59. When they did report losing money, though, they tended to report losing substantially more than younger adults. Consumers 80 and older reported losing a median of $1,750 to fraud, while those in their seventies reported a median loss of $1,000, with both numbers increasing over 2021.
Older adults reported significantly higher losses to investment scams, business impersonation scams and government impersonation scams than they did in 2021. Read the full report.
FTC Issues Annual Report On Actions to Protect Older Adults
